..IBM’s Acquisition of Red Hat – Is it a Game Changer?

IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat has been termed a “game changer” by many, but what is the real impact of this deal? Where will the acquisition have a significant impact and where will the combination be less effective? I’ve written up a new brief for our ESG subscribers about the IBM/Red Hat deal.

In summary, while the deal is significant in scope, the near-term impacts will be limited by the lack of existing synergies in the combined product portfolio. This acquisition helps IBM’s position in the hybrid cloud market significantly but doesn’t enable it to leapfrog competitors like Microsoft, AWS, or Google. The biggest opportunity for IBM is in the container and Kubernetes space, especially if on-premises and bare metal containers become popular. The new IBM would be very well positioned for that type of cloud.